


a lack of comfort

by orphan_account



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, F/M, I want more Zelda and Prudence in s2, my bitch queens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 15:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16621634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Zelda had just been coming round to Prudence Night after her assistance with The Incident. Now, however, she's wishing that one of them had never been born and if she had to pick, she'd plump for Prudence.





	a lack of comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Started as a prompt fill for Slices of a Witch's Life but it got a little long. Hope you enjoy!

 

It's not her fault this time. Zelda is willing to admit that on previous occasions, she maybe hasn’t been as discreet as she could have been. Locking doors and securing privacy both take up time and energy that could otherwise be spent removing clothing or biting at tender flesh, so they've never been an especially high priority. She'd need a third hand to count the number of times over the years Hilda has caught her wrapped around one partner or another (if it was occasionally deliberate, a way of rubbing salt in the wound of Hilda's isolation after her sister had annoyed her, Zelda will never admit it). But today, she refuses to take the blame.

It was him who wound her tighter than a spring, murmuring filthy obscenities in her ear while she was trying to prepare for her first class before leaving her high and dry to conduct a session on hedge hexes with gritted teeth and a flushed face. And it was him who'd made the impulsive move of using a summoning spell to bring her into his office the second the clock hit the hour, making her disappear in the middle of setting an essay on body-borrowing and leaving behind a dozen puzzled students behind. And it was undoubtedly him who was too wrapped up in divesting her of her underwear to have made sure his door was even shut, let alone locked.

Not that she'd done anything to dissuade him, nails eagerly digging into his shoulders to spur him on like a whip to a horse. As time goes on, their encounters are becoming more and more frenzied and frantic, careful manipulation and premeditation falling away into needy, physical impulse. Zelda doesn't trust her own objectivity enough to know if this is a good or a bad thing but in this immediate moment, it doesn't seem like the chips are falling on the positive side. Granted, the feeling of sinking down onto him and relieving that burning frustration had been wonderful but Zelda could really have done without what follows it.

  
‘Forgive me, father, I- oh, sweet Satan, I'm sorry’ having casually disliked Prudence Night for several years, coloured by Sabrina's descriptions of the girl's petty bullying, Zelda had just been coming round to the young witch after her assistance with The Incident. Now, however, she's wishing that either herself or Prudence had never been born and if she had to pick one, she'd plump for Prudence. She'd turned her head to see the girl standing at the doorway with her delicate features in an expression of abject horror and Zelda really wishes they'd chosen a different position. There's absolutely no way to try to pretend they're doing anything other than what they're doing and she doesn't have a hope in hell of getting up if she wants to hang on to even a shred of her dignity. Zelda can feel her cheeks starting to burn and, not for the first time, curses the genetics responsible for her alabaster complexion. It's hard to keep the appearance of composure when even your own skin is working against you.

  
‘Later perhaps, Prudence?’ Faustus sounds like he's been interrupted arranging the schedules for next year's classes, not caught by his illegitimate daughter burying himself to the hilt in one of his congregation. Zelda's jealous of his ease of manner but very grateful for it; she hates to admit that she panics but if it had been left to her, the situation might not have run so smoothly. As it is, their interruption vanishes, closing the door behind her with a very loud thud, and to only her mild surprise, it proves remarkably easy to finish what they'd started.

  
Nevertheless, Zelda finds herself dreading her afternoon session with the Satanic choir. The issue isn't exactly that she's embarrassed, it's just that she could really do without having to spend an extended period of time looking into the eyes of the girl who less than a month ago had helped Zelda steal a child from her own father for fear of his wrath and today had found Zelda with her legs very eagerly spread for the same man. Zelda doesn't care about Prudence's judgement but she would very happily live without it. And then there's the thing that's making Zelda's stomach twist itself into knots; the very real possibility that Prudence is going to use this in yet another attempt to make Sabrina's life a misery. The two girls have been antagonistic towards each other for as long as they've been acquainted; frankly, Prudence would be foolish not to use her newly-acquired information as a weapon of some description. To her great surprise, however, as Zelda attempts to drill the students in the three-part harmony of The Elfin Knight, Prudence barely meets her eyes. Even more surprising is how often Zelda catches her looking at Sabrina, the young witch's usually confident, serene visage marred by the worried frown on her brow. Class passes without incident but as Zelda sits in her classroom grading a series of very poor essays on glamours, a little part of her brain is working furiously but without success to puzzle out the motivations of Miss Prudence Night.

  
She doesn't work it out until two days later. Zelda is home late from the Academy, expecting to relieve Ambrose of babysitting duties and spend the rest of the evening in solitude with her tiny charge. She certainly isn't expecting to find the kitchen occupied by her niece, perched next to a stack of school books on the table and very closely entangled in an embrace with Prudence Night. Their limbs are entwined to an extent that only teenagers seem to know how to do and they're obviously too involved in their activity to have heard the front door. Zelda clears her throat, more amused than she probably should be. The two girls' faces separate and Sabrina's eyes turn into saucers when she meets Zelda's gaze.

  
‘Aunt Zee! I wasn't expecting you, Prudence came to see how the baby is and she was just saying goodnight!’ Sabrina is chattering away at an Olympic pace but Prudence is silent, her expression defensive.

  
‘So I see. Sabrina, it's time you were in bed. And I'd like a word with Miss Night before she goes, if that's amenable to you' Zelda directs her last sentence at Prudence but it isn't really a question. The young women manage to disentangle themselves from each other and Sabrina mouths an apology to Prudence that she thinks Zelda doesn't see. Pressing a chaste kiss to Prudence's cheek, Sabrina mounts the stairs to bed, leaving the other two witches alone in silence. Zelda’s feeling more out of her depth than she cares to be so she wordlessly offers Prudence a cigarette, lighting one for herself when the girl refuses with a wrinkled face. It's not until she's taken several calming puffs that Zelda speaks.

  
‘Even?’ she really hopes she doesn't have to get into specifics here.

  
‘Even.’ Prudence meets her eyes for just a second and Zelda gets the sense that there are a million things the younger witch is stopping herself from saying. Zelda would really rather they remain unsaid and maybe Prudence realises that because after a few more moments of silence, the girl stands up to leave.

  
‘And be very careful, or you might not like the consequences' she sounds a little harsh, perhaps, but it's what she'd say to anyone with romantic designs on Sabrina. Especially to someone who'd only stopped trying to actually murder her niece a matter of weeks ago (Zelda should probably talk to Sabrina about the difference between sexual attraction and homicidal mania; Satan knows, she's found the two far too easy to mix up in the past). Prudence doesn't look abashed, though, she meets Zelda's eyes again with steely determination.

  
‘I could say the same thing to you' she says quietly, and Zelda knows that she doesn't mean quite the same thing. The reminder of her own hypocrisy and the blatant foolishness of the path she's chosen is ringing in Zelda's head long after Prudence has disappeared into the darkness, leaving Zelda with only her cigarette and her own guilt for company.

 

 


End file.
